6 Reasons Why Your Blog Sucks and How To Fix It

Let’s stop with the petty compliments for a bit and be honest. “Your blog sucks!” Three words no one wants to hear from anyone, however, once you face the truth and realize that your blog isn’t much better than the 1948 by-line from the New York Post, you will soon be on your way to glory.

Now you might be thinking how it will benefit you if someone were to tell you that your blog actually sucks? Well it will in quite a few ways.

Firstly, it will make you see past all the petty compliments and kindness of your friends and relatives. Secondly, it will help you turn your blog upside down to start outputting amazing content and a creative design. Thirdly, you will start working harder to receive better results. “These are only three ways it will help you.”

Let’s get down to business and see why your really blog sucks.

1. You don’t have a unique design

At least 50 other blogs on the internet use the same theme as you do and the only thing that separates you from the rest of them is your content. The reason why I named this number one is because a blog is usually remembered by its design and then its content. Sure you can have the simplest design out there and write amazing content and still get readers, but then your site will have to be related to the design. If you want to have a design blog, you are going to need a creative theme aren’t you?

How to fix this
Design yourself a unique theme or get someone to do it for you. You might be low on cash or you don’t want to spend money on your blog, but it will definitely be one of the best investments that you can make. Especially if you want to grow your blog into a business. If you want to purchase a template and then have it heavily modified; it could work out cheaper for you. Try out these sources: WooThemes, Obox Design, Themify, Mojo Themes

2. You only post roundups

I have been the victim of this in the past. It’s one of the easiest things to do…constantly. Why write a post that takes 10 hours to format when you can post a roundup of the best sketches in the world that will take you a hour max? People love reading content that can’t be found elsewhere on the internet and that is why they come back to your blog for me. There was a time on Creativeoverflow where I just posted roundup after roundup after roundup and sure it was bringing in decent traffic, but it wasn’t bringing in much user interaction. It was a mistake that I made and a mistake I had to learn from. I still post roundups nowadays in between articles, but just to keep things interesting.

How to fix this
Don’t focus on inspiration roundups unless you run a inspiration only blog. Your readers want to read about things that come from the heart: Situations, experiences, mistakes, advice etc. There are hundreds of different topics out there and you surely don’t want to be caught covering only one area do you? Make sure you keep the roundup posts to a minimum and output the unique articles.

3. Readers struggle to interact with you

This is a common mistake by a lot of first time bloggers. Their readers struggle to interact with them because their contact/subscription information is nowhere to be found. In order for the reader to subscribe to the blog, they need to search far and wide to find a RSS address or even a twitter link. This usually puts readers off and will make them not come back to your blog again.

How to fix this
Make sure that your subscription options is in plain sight when your readers visit your blog. If it isn’t located in the top nav bar or the top of the sidebar, make sure its in your single posts and in the footer. Don’t be afraid to put your subscription options right in the face of your readers. You obviously want them to subscribe and read your articles, so tell them.

4. You don’t give back to the readers

If you are curating your blog to only benefit yourself, you aren’t really going to get anywhere. I’m saying this in a nice subtle tone though. Readers like being appreciated and given back to. Why should they read your blog? Why should they follow you? They do it by choice and perhaps because you write some interesting stuff, but they don’t always feel appreciated if you don’t tell them. You will be surprised to see how much your readership increases once you start hosting giveaways on your blog. It doesn’t have to be an iPad or a Car, just something useful ex. Business Cards, Flyers, Pens, Blog Themes etc. The sky is the limit in that category.

How to fix this
Host some giveaways on your blog. Maybe start by partnering with a company like Nextdayflyers.com who specialize in printing services. If your blog is doing well and you have a strong readership, they would be happy to help you with a giveaway or two. It will also kick start your blog in the right direction to giving back to your readers.

5. Your commenting system sucks

It takes a reader two hours to post a comment on your site…figuratively speaking. In order for anyone to post a comment on your site they have to go through a vigorous time consuming process of filling in their name, surname, email, website, twitter and then the captcha form of course. Now you are wondering why you aren’t getting any comments? Well that should answer a few things for you?

How to fix this
Implement a simple commenting system. If you want to run with the normal wordpress comments, then make it easy for users to leave a comment. Let them input their name and email address and have their website optional. Don’t use a captcha form unless you really, really have to. If you want to run with a even simpler solution, try Disqus or the Facebook commenting system. Remember that you want to make it easy for users to leave their thoughts, so make sure that it is.

6. You don’t have a newsletter for readers to subscribe to

This is a big mistake I made in the beginning. I didn’t make a newsletter available for readers to subscribe to and it’s another reason why my blog sucked. Readers like to be given free stuff and on top of that life changing information too. If you can build a hefty following through a newsletter too, you are set for gold on more than one occasion.

How to fix this
Sign up at Aweber to start managing your email list. It doesn’t come free, but it’s definitely worth it. Once you build a strong email following you will be able to notify them of upcoming products or awesome posts. You will be amazed at what can be accomplished with a strong email following.

Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this post and take some of my points to heart. I don’t mean to be rude, but truthful instead. Have an awesome weekend and see you in the next post.

We are an online design magazine for anything creative. We have a goal of expanding the community of design eccentric individuals from all over the world by inspiring them through articles, resources, tutorials and inspiration. We were established in 2009.